This program began at University of North Texas in March 2007 as a fundraising partnership between a non-profit microfinance organization known as The Chiapas Project and a for-profit recycling company called Phoneraiser.

The Chiapas Project is a Dallas, Texas based 501(c) 3 non-profit, founded by Lucy Billingsley, dedicated to raising funds for microfinance institutions in Latin America. They are a direct affiliate of the Grameen Foundation USA, recently achieving their $3.5 million dollar commitment to Grameen's $10 million Latin American initiative. The Recycle to Eradicate Poverty program has been one of the many methods used to reach this goal. It particularly assists The Chiapas Project in educating young people about the concept of microfinance and allows one to help on many levels without even writing a check. 

Phoneraiser is an Addison, Texas based for-profit recycling company that allows over 30,000 organizations across the nation to fundraise through the collection of used cell phones and ink cartridges. It displays social entrepreneurship at its best as it allows organizations across the country to protect the environment from toxic while raising money for their organization's cause. Phoneraiser has adopted Recycle to Eradicate Poverty with the Chiapas Project as their token program to use their own system of fundraising to support a cause they care about.

Why this logo design? Ever heard of the "Global Village"? If we took a sample of the entire world's population into 100 people, what would it look like?

Only one person out of that hundred would own a computer or have a college degree. Fifty would would be suffering from malnutrition.

It's easy to observe that we live in a country nothing like these descriptions. We believe that knowing this information changes how you view the United States: as merely, one country out of two hundred and thirty-six. Our project serves as a gateway between these two worlds, determined only by the accident of birth. As we continue to "defeat poverty through business solutions," the message here calls for others to take action towards the amalgamation of these two worlds through our program Recycle to Eradicate Poverty.